No
Creed But Christ
“Whosoever therefore shall confess me before
me, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever
shall deny me before men, him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven.”
--Matthew 10:32,3
“A good man out of the good treasure of the
heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure
bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That
every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the
day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words
thou shalt be condemned.” --Matthew 12:35-37
“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9, 10
Why
is it essential for a church to have a written creed, and why must Christians
confess one?
Because Faith Is Not Ashamed.
(Romans 10:11) Understanding this clearly, the early church was
fearless in their confession, and encouraged one another to be faithful. Only
the pagans around them believed that there were many paths to God: the church
of the martyrs knew better. Jesus had claimed to be the way, the truth, and the
life, and the believers were ready to die for that.
Jesus said that what you say is important.
Evil words are spoken by evil men, and good words are spoken by good
men. Eventually, what you say will reveal what kind of person you are. Pilate
showed what kind of person he was when he responded to Christ, “What is truth?”
(John 18:38). By this he showed that he was not a child of the truth and had no
faith, even though what he said was the politically correct thing to say.
The devil hates certainty.
It
doesn't matter to him what lie a person believes, as long as he does not
believe the truth. Truth is one, and there is only one version of the truth.
Lies take many forms. For example, it is true that God created the world and
man in his image. There are many lying versions of how this happened. As
another example, there is only one standard of ethics, and this is to seek the
glory of God in obedience and faith. There are many man-made systems of ethics.
This brings us to confession.
The words of Christ take away all neutrality from us. Modern men and
women do not like commitment and run from it. This may be the very definition
of irresponsibility. Modern man lives his life in terms of this lack of
commitment. People choose churches in terms of their own irresponsibility. “We
have no creed but Christ,” they say, thinking they have said something very
religious and pious. What they do not realize is that they have said something
religious, but it is not Christianity. We are called to confession, not evasion
and irresponsibility.
The
highest form of the expression of ideas is in words.
Birds
sing to communicate, but it is easy to misunderstand. You may think the bird is
happy, but in reality he is staking out territory by his songs. The songs sound
beautiful, but they are really saying, “Come over here, and I will tear your
heart out.” The early church realized that the great ideas of Christianity
needed to be expressed clearly. They took truth and responsibility very
seriously: hence, the creeds. The Holy Spirit said to “confess with the mouth,
believing in the heart.” The confession was to be in words that came from the
heart. There was to be content in the words, and the words were to express the
truth.
Man
cannot escape confession, for he is in the image of God. He either confesses
the truth, or he confesses a lie. He cannot escape by silence, for Jesus said
that we will be justified by our words. No words, no justification.
No
Creed But Christ?
A
church may boast, “No Creed But Christ,” but people
may be unaware of the true message. It may sound as beautiful as the song of a
bird, but the real message is ugly. What they mean is, “What is true about the
Bible is not important.” Some may go so far as to say that anything a person
wants to believe about Christ is permitted. Hence, they are denying Christ, by
refusing responsibility to confess the truth. Jesus is the Son of God. He is
the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. He died on the cross as a substitute for
sinners. The Son is not just another name for the Father. He took a true human
nature, that in that human nature he could suffer and die for the sins of his
people. He is coming again to judge the living and the dead. He established his
church, and appointed officers to bring his people to the fullness of the faith
and maturity as the body of Christ. He appointed the observing of the Lord's
Supper and Holy Baptism until his return.
The
Bible is God's record concerning His son, and must be believed.
All
these things, and much more about God and the world are absolutely necessary
for a Christian to confess and believe. Irresponsible churches, just like
irresponsible individuals, do not want to entangle themselves with confession
and vows, because they want to leave their options open, so that they can serve
themselves later if they so desire. The faithful confession of individual
members is no substitute for the confession of the church as an institution.
If
a church does not have a confession of faith, then it is no honest church of
Jesus Christ. There may be fine Christians there, they may do many good works, but it is dishonest, and it leads to a dishonest fraudulent
message. The church of Jesus Christ is the “pillar and ground of the truth” (I
Timothy 3:15). An honest church will not pretend that truth is unimportant in
order to get members to support their “ministry.” If the ministry is not of the
truth, then it is no ministry of Christ. It is not noble and “spiritual” to
refuse to say what you believe. Paul said that he “had renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God
deceitfully....”
The
crooked seducer says to his target: “It is what we have in our heart that
counts. We do not need a piece of paper to prove our love.” After he has
satisfied his lust, he goes on to other conquests. Commitment and vows are
scorned only by the naive or the dishonest.
Put
It in Writing!
A
few years ago I was in a lawyer's office. The man is a friend of mine, and he
was in despair because a client of his had entered into an oral agreement with
someone and had been defrauded of a great deal of money. “How many times have I
said to get it in writing,” he moaned. Business has to be in writing, because
men are crooked. For the same reason God put the words of His covenant in
writing, and honest churches will put their confession in writing. There are as
many crooked people in religion as anywhere else. The church or minister who
will not confess a creed has an agenda that he keeps hidden in order to attract
people who might not come if they understood the agenda. Dishonest preachers
like this because they do not have to be accountable to anyone for their
behavior or practices. In other words, they want to be responsible to none but
themselves. This is no responsibility at all. Because of this we have homemade
churches, self-appointed preachers, and the Christian people are continually
taken in and defrauded.
All Things to All Men?
But
didn't Paul say, “I am all things to all men”? Didn't he say he had caught them
with “guile”? Paul was not speaking of concealing his true beliefs, but of
appearing before them as a servant, and not raising issue that did not really
matter. He was as a Jew to win the Jews, and as a Gentile to win the Gentiles.
But he did not pretend that confession, ideas, and truth did not matter. Just the opposite. He labored tirelessly among the churches
and wrote letters to bring them to the unity of the faith of Jesus Christ.
To
Paul, there was only one faith, and he was not ashamed to express it in
words. If you want to be part of a real
church, find one with a creed. These are the honest ones. Return to Menu
-----------------------------------
Write:
Pastor
C. W. Powell
Trinity
Covenant Church
